Kirani James of Grenada in action (© Paul Reid)
After back to back silver medals at the last two IAAF age group championships, Granada’s Kirani James has his eyes set on not just gold medals at this sixth World Youth Championships in Brixen/Bressanone but also records.
James who will turn 17 on September 1, was second in the 400m at the 5th WYC in Ostrava, Czech Republic in 2007 in 46.96 seconds and again at the World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland in 45.70 seconds.
He however comes into this meet with a World Youth leading 45.45 seconds that he ran while breaking Usain Bolt’s six-year-old record at the CARIFTA Games held in St Lucia.
Despite this he was drawn in lane eight in the first round but shrugged this off, “I won’t make a big issue out of it just have to go out there and run my race,” he said.
He won easily jogging the last 150m to win his heat in 48.25 seconds saying he has a “hectic week and I have to conserve energy,” he said adding that he would be doing the 200m later in the week.
James who is one half of the two-member Grenadian team says while he expects to run fast when it counts, he has his eyes on Obeah Moore’s World Junior record 45.14 seconds set in 1995 in Chile.
Despite being just three years old then, James says Moore is one of the athletes he admires.
Breaking Bolt’s record this year he also said was a milestone moment for him. “Once you break records set by someone like Bolt, someone of that high calibre that means you are on track for something great also.”
Paul Reid for the IAAF
